Well, “amazing” might be an overstatement, but it was fun getting some packages at the door again…
Remember when I said I had one more in me? I guess I didn’t. Work reared its ugly head the Thursday and Friday I had hoped to escape to the hills, and it just didn’t happen. Maybe I’ll sneak another trout trip in before the end of the year. It’s just very unlikely.
So instead, I immersed myself in the only other way I know how to soothe my fishing blues, gear acquisition. Let me explain.
First was this trout keychain…
A gentleman named Steve is selling several species of these on Facebook. He sent me one gratis, I suppose due to my influential status over at Tenkara Angler.
It is going to be included in the Tenkara Angler holiday gift guide on Monday, so he definitely did his job in terms of getting product placement. It’s rather nice, and I’m probably going to lash it on one of my fishing packs. I certainly dig the vibrant colors that this photo doesn’t do justice. Want one for yourself? Check out all of Steve’s offerings here.
Next up came the arrival of what I’ll call my Yakoda “bougie” nippers…
I’ve always had cheap nippers. The kind you used to get for less than $5, although thanks to inflation, tariffs, and whatever else, who knows what they go for today. I’ve always been tempted to buy fancier ones, be it from Abel, Orvis, whomever… I just never took the plunge. The frugality inside me always said “you don’t need that”. And honestly it’s not lying.
But these are so pretty I couldn’t help it. Yakoda was doing a pre-order discount for like $89, so I bought them. (I think they’re the same price temporarily today due to a Black Friday sale.) The regular retail is $119. So almost $100 for nippers? Consider this my midlife crisis sports car. I guess it could be worse.
Then the fly swap flies arrived…
Tenkara Angler recently hosted a Fall Kebari Swap, and I along with 19 other folks participated. You never know what you’re going to get when you enter a fly swap, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I received.
I’m not going to take photos of every one, that’s coming soon over at Tenkara Angler, but this was a fairly easy way to refill one of my fly boxes. And if you’d like to see what I contributed to the swap, peep them on Instagram, a’ight?
Last but not least, Maxxon has entered my life…
Perhaps they’ve entered your life too. Maybe about a month ago, I started getting served up a lot of ads in social media for Maxxon fly fishing. It probably didn’t help that I clicked on the first one, you know how algorithms love that.
Anyway, a week or so later I got some surprising outreach from Maxxon about an affiliate partnership through an Instagram DM, and they asked to schedule a video call with me to talk details and see if we’d be a good match.
Fortunately, after talking to Justin & Ivan, we were cool with each other despite the fact that the readership of Troutrageous! is not what it once was. I mentioned my love for small waters, click and pawl reels, wild mountain trout, etc… and they didn’t even act repulsed when I offered up my tenkara affliction. Cool by them, cool by me.
A few weeks had passed and then on Thursday, I found their 6′ 6″ Quill 4-weight fly rod, a Slim click & pawl fly reel, and some 4-weight fly line and backing on my doorstep.
I’ll probably string the reel up today and give it a go for a little bit, either in the backyard or a local neighborhood microbass™ & bluegill pond, just to get a feel for how the rod casts. At least until I can get up to Georgia, North Carolina, or Pennsylvania again to put it to the test against my typical 5-inch trout. 😉
I will say that I am rather impressed with the light weight, solid build quality, and general cosmetics of the Slim reel. It seems much nicer than the Orvis Battenkill I got when I bought my Superfine Carbon back in 2020. It’s got sort of a mix of a modern and classic click & pawl looks and doesn’t feel “cheap” at all.
I could do without the graphic of the “fly” on the center hub, but other than that, it’s the kind or reel that wouldn’t look out of place on a brand new, high tech, carbon fiber rod, or a vintage bamboo or classic fiberglass model.
So far, so good… watch it spin around below:
Guilty Conscience Disclaimer
In closing, I do want to be transparent that any affiliate relationships that take place on T! resulting in either free gear and/or the potential to earn small referral royalties will not guarantee a positive review. I’m not going to blow smoke up anyone’s ass.
I also want to be clear that this won’t stop me from fishing with my other toys. The dozens of tenkara rods, vintage and rehabbed clicker reels, my beloved Redington Classic Trout rod, and the bamboo and fiberglass curiosities are not getting sidelined. They’ve just got some new friends to play with now too. I’m sure they’ll all get along.